Deciding What to Play

My "career" has officially begun. I won some money since I was tracking it last month and got my bankroll up over $1400. Now I have to do some experimenting to determine which games I will be the most successful at and enjoy playing as well.

I use the term career very loosely lol. I will not be working for at least a year - and if by then I am earning part-time money of a sufficient amount playing poker I will not have to return to a regular job. So I am fortunate that I can view this as a potential career without a lot of risk or pressure to make a killing at it. I am willing to back that $1400 with a near equal amount but if I were to lose all of that I would have to return to playing poker recreationally.

My immediate plans are to dabble in some different types of tournaments and play some $25NL as well. I started on last Monday. So far I am down $3.70 in tournaments and up $28.92 in cash games. So I ended the first week up $25.22. I am liking the cash games - not just because I am winning at that but I feel I have more control over what happens. I am also fortunate enough to have some great players at Cardschat willing to review my hands and give me advice.

I say dabble because there are some things I need to do before I get serious and play a lot. I have a lot of reading to do. For tournament play I am starting with HOH vol 1. We will even be doing a book discussion on that at Cardschat which will be fun. For cash I have ordered Slanskey/Miller's NLHE Theory and Practice.

I also need to get my Pokertracker and Hud back up and running. I hope to do that within a few days.

So wish me luck!

Almost Ready for some Poker

I am almost back! I need a little more time to get things organized at home then I can start my poker career....

I am going to be digging into HOH volume 1 within the next 2 weeks as well. And pulling out some strategy guides at Cardschat. I need to get my Pokertracker and Hud working again. I have a lot to do to get ready.

Stay tuned - it is about to get exciting in here lol.

I will update soon!

I know it appears that I have abandoned my blog - but I will be updating it frequently soon. Wednesday is my last day of work - after that I plan on concentrating more on my poker.

So stay tuned!

Poker at a Profit??

Wow - I am really getting stoked lol. It is so cool to be a winning player for a change. It helps a lot to be tracking it here. I find my desire to win - even a few cents sometimes - is much stronger. I am forcing myself to play a different game - I find myself being much more aggressive.

What is really interesting to me is the impact that playing freerolls and FPP's is having on my game. I have always hated those kinds of games because they seem such a waste of time for such little reward. But they are teaching me patience. I always knew I struggled with patience in MTT's - but never realized what an issue it was in smaller games like the Cardschat buy-ins.

Anyway the Cardschat buy-ins at UltimateBet have been my big cash cow recently. I have placed 1st in the last 2 games and have had a couple of other cashes in them recently. It only pays out 3 places so the payouts are great.

I realize I am on an upswing - but I don't mind basking in it for a few days. Reality will come knocking soon enough lol.

I need to find a better way to track my winnings. Jotting it down on a piece of paper isn't working. I will sort through it and update it on Friday - but I estimate that my bankroll is close to $1400 and I am now up approximately $224!

Another win for Dakota!

I am a bit behind on updating here. I have played a few games in the past few days. I hope I have it all correct.

$1221.45
+ .30 (pokerstars $10NL)
- 5.50 (buy-in for CC Fulltilt game, did not finish itm)
- 5.50 (same as above)
- 5.50 (again but at Pokerstars)
+ .30 (10fpp entry at Pokerstars)
+ 82.00 (profit after taking 1st in CC UltimateBet buy-in!!)
$1287.55 new bankroll

Now I am up $113.84!! This is starting to be fun. I always thought I was a loser lol. (well, at poker anyway)

Bankroll update

$1218.25
- 11.00 Cardschat Carbon buy-in (did not place itm)
+ 14.20 10NL at Pokerstars
$1221.45 new bankroll

I am now up $47.74 - working my way to $50!

Back from Reno - time to build bankroll some more

The trip to Reno was fantastic! We met up with some of our Cardschat friends and all had a great time. We drank, played poker, talked and hung out for a few days. It was very nice. And I managed to break even on my gambling.

Here is my bankroll update for the past 2 days:

$1211.55 (don't ask me where the other $9.45 went???)
- 11.00 (Bodog buy-in)
+ .79 (won at $10NL at Absolute)
+ 16.71 (won at $5NL and $10NL at Pokerstars)
+ .20 (won in a 10FPP tournie at Pokerstars - he he)
$1218.25 new bankroll

So I am up $44.54 now.

And fancy that - me winning almost $17 playing cash tables. Not bad! I know I am rolled to play higher than $10NL, but I need to learn how to beat it first.